1 600 gefallene US-Soldaten im Iraq

versammels, hätte  auch keiner auf sie schießen können.

aber nein, die offene zurschaustellung der religion war ma wieder wichtiger...  

US-MILITÄREINSÄTZE

Bush genehmigt Zwangsrekrutierung

Angesichts der blutigen und kraftraubenden Feldzüge gehen dem US-Militär die Freiwilligen aus. Daher hat US-Präsident Bush der Zwangsrekrutierung von 2500 nicht aktiven Reservisten zugestimmt. Sie werden bis zu anderthalb Jahre in Afghanistan und im Irak im Einsatz sein.


Washington - Die Reservisten würden ab dem Frühjahr 2007 einberufen und sollten personelle Engpässe bei Kampfeinheiten, Fernmelde- und Aufklärungseinheiten, Ingenieuren und der Militärpolizei in Afghanistan und im Irak beseitigen, teilte die US-Marineinfanterie mit.



AFP
US-Soldaten im Irak: Zu wenige Freiwillige
Zunächst war von der "unfreiwilligen Einberufung" von 2500 Soldaten die Rede, nach Angaben des Nachrichtensenders CNN könnten jedoch jederzeit mehr einberufen werden. Nach Angaben der Marineinfanterie besteht die in Frage kommende Reserveeinheit aus 59.000 Soldaten. Zum letzten Mal hatte die US-Armee beim Einmarsch im Irak im Jahr 2003 auf Reservisten zurückgegriffen.

Nach Angaben einer Armeesprecherin sollen die Einberufenen zwischen 12 und 18 Monaten entweder im Irak oder in Afghanistan im Einsatz sein. Sie betonte außerdem, letztlich werde nur eine "relativ geringe Zahl" von Reservisten für den Einsatz ausgewählt. Derzeit sind im Irak rund 133.000 und in Afghanistan mehr als 20.000 US-Soldaten stationiert.

 

Bagdad (Reuters) - Im Völkermord-Prozess gegen Saddam Hussein hat eine kurdische Zeugin dem irakischen Gericht grausame Details eines Giftgas-Angriffs auf ihr Bergdorf geschildert.

Am dritten Tag des Verfahrens beschrieb Adiba Oula Bajes am Mittwoch ausführlich, wie sie den Abend des 16. April 1987 erlebte, als Kampfflugzeuge Chemiebomben auf ihre Ortschaft im Nord-Írak abwarfen. "Ich wurde blind, meine Kinder wurden blind und mein Haus wurde bis auf die Grundmauern zerstört - Möge Gott sie auch erblinden lassen", sagte die 45-jährige Mutter von fünf Kindern und zeigte dabei auf Saddam und die sechs Mitangeklagten. Sie habe an dem Abend gleich bemerkt, dass etwas anders sei als bei früheren Angriffen. "Es roch sehr merkwürdig, wie fauler Apfel; alle meine Kinder mussten sich plötzlich übergeben und auch ich war kurz davor", sagte Bajes vor dem Sondertribunal in Bagdad. Die Richter vertagten das Verfahren am Nachmittag um drei Wochen auf den 11. September.

Die Äußerungen der Zeugin waren den Schilderungen anderer Kurden wie etwa ihres Ehemanns am Dienstag vor Gericht sehr ähnlich. Saddam und seinem Cousin, der als "Chemie-Ali" bekannte Ali Hassan al-Madschid, wird vorgeworfen, für den Tod von mehr als 180.000 Menschen bei einer bis August 1988 andauernden Militäroffensive gegen die kurdische Minderheit im Nordirak verantwortlich zu sein. Die Anklage lautet auf Völkermord. Ihnen und weiteren angeklagten Offizieren droht die Todesstrafe. Sie rechtfertigen die Angriffe damit, dass die Kurden den Iran im Kampf gegen die Saddam-Regierung unterstützt hätten. Der Krieg des Iran gegen den Irak dauerte bis 1988.

Bajes sagte, sie habe infolge des Angriffs zwei Fehlgeburten erlitten und ein drei Monate altes Kind verloren. Kurz nach dem Bombenangriff seien Hubschrauber hinter den in die Berge fliehenden Kurden hergeflogen. "Meine Haut schälte sich, ich erbrach Blut", berichtete die Frau. Sie sprach Kurdisch und trug das traditionelle schwarze Gewand der Volksgruppe. Später seien die Soldaten gekommen und hätten alle Menschen eingesammelt und ohne jede medizinische Versorgung nach Erbil gebracht.

Gegen Saddam läuft bereits ein Prozess wegen des Vorwurfs des Massakers an Schiiten in der Ortschaft Dudschail aus dem Jahr 1982. Ein Urteil in dem Verfahren wird für Mitte Oktober erwartet. Saddam könnte auch in dem Verfahren zum Tode verurteilt werden. Er erkennt das Tribunal nicht an und nennt es ein Instrument der USA.

 

Zum Beispiel erhielt die US-Firma Bechtel einen Zwölfmonatsvertrag über 1,03 Milliarden US-Dollar, um die Wasser- und Abwassersysteme im Irak zu erneuern. Bis heute hat Bechtel den Auftrag nicht erfüllt, die Kläranlage von Rustamiya in Bagdad zu reparieren, die nach dem Krieg wie viele andere öffentlichen Einrichtungen geplündert wurde. Das bedeutet, dass noch immer täglich eineinhalb Tonnen grobe Abwässer in den Tigris gepumpt werden. Ein Drittel der Bevölkerung von Bagdad hat keinen Zugang zu sauberem Trinkwasser.  
http://www.aerzteblatt.de/v4/archiv/artikel.asp?id=42780
http://www.heise.de/tp/r4/artikel/16/16399/1.html
und das Resultat ist niederschmetternd,überall zuwenig Wasser und nicht funktionierende Kläranlagen,die den Dreck in den Euphrat leiten.
In order to make sure U.S.
Government contractors such as Bechtel work efficiently
to fulfill America?s responsibility of reconstruction
and not just to maximize profits and then
perpetuate their own dominance in the country,
there are several actions which must be taken by
Bechtel and the U.S. Government immediately to
ensure reconstruction results for Iraqis.
http://www.citizen.org/documents/bechteliniraq.pdf  

http://www.juancole.com/
   "BAQUBA - Eight people, including two policemen, were gunned down in different incidents in the religiously mixed city of Baquba, 65 km (40 miles) north of Baghdad, police said." . . .

   Iraqi police pulled out six bodies from a small river near Latifiya, 40 km (25 miles) south of Baghdad on Tuesday, police said.

   BAGHDAD - A civilian was killed and another wounded when a roadside bomb went off in the southern Saidiya district of Baghdad, a source in the Interior Ministry said. '
A roadside bomb in the Dura neighborhood of Baghdad, a roadside bomb killed 2 persons and injured 5, including traffic policemen.

The bomb narrowly missed the Minister of the Interior, Jawad al-Bulani, whose convoy was passing through. The Interior Ministry is in charge of internal security for Iraq.AMARA - One British serviceman was wounded and two others slightly hurt during a prolonged mortar barrage on Tuesday on a British base near Amara, 365 km (230 miles) south of Baghdad, the British military said on Wednesday.

FALLUJA - Three civilians and three traffic policemen were wounded by a roadside bomb near a U.S. patrol in Falluja, 50 km (35 miles) west of Baghdad, police said. '
23.August:
    *MOSUL - Gunmen killed a family of five, including two children, after entering their home in the al-Zanjeeli district of Mosul 390 km north of Baghdad . . .

   MADAEN - The bodies of eight fruit traders were found with their throats slit by a road in Madaen, 40 km (25 miles) south of Baghdad . . .The men, who were from Najaf, died on Monday . . .

   RAMADI - Gunmen killed one of the bodyguards of the governor of Anbar in a drive-by shooting in the restive Sunni stronghold, west of Baghdad . . .

   MUQDADIYA - Fifteen people were wounded in a mortar attack on a market in Muqdadiya, 100 km (60 miles) northeast of Baghdad . . . '
Al-Zaman says that the US military has concluded that there are 20 militias openly operating in Iraq, and that dealing with them is the business of the Iraqi government.  

Einsatz....


Britischer Soldat nimmt sich vor Irak-Einsatz das Leben(orf)

Ein 19-jähriger Soldat der britischen Armee hat sich aus Verzweiflung vor seinem anstehenden Einsatz im Irak das Leben genommen.

"Ich kann nicht dahingehen und auf kleine Kinder schießen", habe der Gefreite Jason Chelsea seiner Mutter gesagt, bevor er sich getötet habe, berichtete heute die britische Tageszeitung "The Independent". "Es ist mir gleich, auf welcher Seite sie stehen. Ich kann es nicht."

Selbstmord während Heimaturlaubs
Einer seiner Vorgesetzten hatte dem jungen Mann demnach gesagt, dass ihm im Irak befohlen werden könnte, auf junge Selbstmordattentäter zu schießen.

Die Zeitung "The Times" berichtete dagegen unter Berufung auf Militärquellen, dass es keine Beweise dafür gebe, dass Aufständische im Irak Kinder als Selbstmordattentäter losschickten. Bei der Einsatzvorbereitung gebe es deshalb auch keine derartigen Warnungen.

Chelsea, der zuvor in Deutschland und Zypern gedient hatte, nahm am 10. August bei einem Heimaturlaub 60 Schmerztabletten ein und schnitt sich die Pulsadern auf; er starb am 14. August.
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"He looks foolish and not credible if he says, 'We're making progress in Iraq'"


President Bush, in his desperate attempts to defend his Iraq policy, has again shifted the arguments for the war. The American President never used the word ?progress? at a news conference this week to defend the U.S.?s mission in Iraq. Instead, he tried to argue that things could be even worse.

Since the 2003 invasion of Iraq, Bush has been trying to convince the international community that more progress was being achieved in the war-torn country than it realized. As recently as two weeks ago, the U.S. President was saying that things in Iraq are better than they seem. The new Iraqi government ?has shown remarkable progress on the political front," he said on Aug. 7, calling its mere existence "quite a remarkable achievement."

But with Iraq descending into civil war, Bush had to drop this unrealistic ?progress? argument, according to an editorial on The Washington Post.  

Shifting arguments for the Iraq War indicates a broader pessimism that gripped the Bush Administration as the war enters its fourth year; a sense that the invasion of Iraq has taken a dark turn and will not be resolved anytime soon.

White House officials are telling their associates outside the government that they?ve become frustrated over the Iraq War. Even the death of al-Qaeda?s alleged leader in Iraq, Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, didn?t curb the violence in the country.

At Monday?s news conference, Bush admitted that he?s been discouraged as well. "Frustrated?" he asked. "Sometimes I'm frustrated. Rarely surprised. Sometimes I'm happy. This is -- but war is not a time of joy. These aren't joyous times. These are challenging times and they're difficult times and they're straining the psyche of our country."

This admission represents a striking change from what critics considered an overly rosy portrayal of Iraq. With sectarian violence claiming the lives of thousands of Iraqis each month, the White House felt the need to connect with the anxiety in the American public, analysts say.  

"Most of the people rightly are concerned about the security situation, as is the president," presidential counselor Dan Bartlett said.

But with the midterm elections just two and half months away, the Bush administration is trying to turn the public debate away from whether the Iraq War was justified to what would happen if U.S. troops left the country, as some Democrats demand. The necessity of not failing, Bush aides believe, is now a more compelling argument than the likelihood of success.

"Last-ditch argument"

Using terms such as ?havoc?, the American President didn't imply in his latest speech that the situation in Iraq is improving. Instead, he argued: "If you think it's bad now, imagine what Iraq would look like if the United States leaves before this government can defend itself."

Christopher F. Gelpi, a Duke University scholar whose research on public opinion in wartime has been influential in the White House, said Bush has little choice.

"He looks foolish and not credible if he says, 'We're making progress in Iraq,' " Gelpi said. "I think he probably would like to make that argument, but because that's not credible given the facts on the ground, this is the fallback. . . . If the only thing you can say is 'Yes, it's bad, but it could be worse,' that really is a last-ditch argument."

Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.), a war supporter, says that the Bush administration has only itself to blame for setting unrealistic expectations.

"One of the biggest mistakes we made was underestimating the size of the task and the sacrifices that would be required," McCain said. "'Stuff happens,' 'mission accomplished,' 'last throes,' 'a few dead-enders.' I'm just more familiar with those statements than anyone else because it grieves me so much that we had not told the American people how tough and difficult this task would be."

McCain said that such statements have ?contributed enormously to the frustration that Americans feel today because they were led to believe this could be some kind of day at the beach."

Sen. Lindsey O. Graham (R-S.C.) agrees. "I think we undersold how hard the war would be," he said. "I think we oversold how easy it would be to create democracy. I think we missed by a mile how much it would cost to rebuild Iraq."

Arguing that things could be worse in Iraq indicates how frustrated Bush is feeling now. He is even questioning the effectiveness of Iraq?s new premier Nouri al-Maliki and disappointed over the lack of public support for the U.S. military presence in Iraq, according to officials who attended a recent provate meeting with the American President.

Bush is also trying to change his tactics to deal with the evolving threats in Iraq, and he is privately reaching out for advice about further steps to take. Last week, he met with four Middle East experts to solicit ideas about how to stabilize Iraq.

"I would say he was deeply concerned about how many lives are being lost, both American and Iraqi, and how much this is costing the American taxpayer," said Eric Davis, a Rutgers University professor who was among those invited, who urged Bush to launch a New Deal-style economic program in Iraq.  


 

Bagdad (Reuters) - US-Panzer haben am Freitag eine Moschee der irakischen Stadt Ramadi beschossen und nach Angaben eines Arztes drei Menschen getötet.

22 Personen seien verletzt worden, sagte der Mediziner aus einem örtlichen Krankenhaus. Das US-Militär sprach im Zusammenhang mit dem Vorfall von Selbstverteidigung. Die Soldaten seien von dem Gebäude aus mit Granaten und Maschinengewehren angegriffen worden. Sie hätten daraufhin das Feuer erwidert. Ein Soldat sei leicht verletzt worden. Die Kuppel der Moschee und das Minarett hätten schwere Schäden davon getragen.

Die US-Kräfte greifen eigenen Angaben zufolge Moscheen nur dann an, wenn sie selbst zuvor aus den Gebäuden heraus attackiert wurden. Sie werfen sunnitischen und schiitischen Extremisten jedoch vor, Moscheen zu militärischen Zwecken zu missbrauchen. Ramadi ist die Hauptstadt der entlegenen Provinz Anbar und gilt als eine der gefährlichsten irakischen Städte. Der 70 Kilometer westlich von Bagdad gelege Ort ist eine Hochburg der sunnitischen Aufständischen.

 

lt. Pentagon:



http://www.defenselink.mil/news/casualty.pdf  

FAIRBANKS, Alaska (Reuters) - The wives of soldiers whose duty in Iraq was extended to add troop strength to Baghdad peppered U.S. Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld with tough questions, some that he could not answer, at a closed-door meeting in Alaska on Saturday.

Rumsfeld, who received a mixed reception from a crowd that offered more applause for the questions asked than the answers provided, praised the 172nd Stryker Brigade Combat Team. He would not commit to a date for bringing those soldiers home, but told a 12-year-old girl in the audience, "I'd bet your daddy gets home before Christmas."

He also told the estimated 700 to 800 family members at the meeting in an Army gymnasium that what the soldiers were doing was necessary to ensure terrorism does not strike the United States.


"In five or 10 or 15 years, you'll all be able to look back and appreciate the importance of what's being done and the value of what's being done," he told the crowd.

Rumsfeld's meeting with family members was closed to the press, unlike other large events, such as "town hall" sessions with troops. But some wives taped the event and one shared the recording with reporters.

Afterward, Rumsfeld said it was a "terrific" meeting. He said he spent 45 minutes speaking with people one-on-one after the larger session.

"I'm enormously pleased that I came," he told reporters.

Questions from family members ranged from personal appeals for help on securing short-time leave for soldiers to broader issues, such as whether another brigade was being trained to replace the 172nd Stryker Brigade Combat Team -- a question that received thunderous applause from the crowd and calls for a yes or no response.  
 

The defense secretary said he could not give them a definitive answer.

"I wish I had a magic wand and the power to say, 'yes.' But I don't," he told them. He said he would do everything he could to make sure the brigade's tour in Iraq was not extended again.

The Pentagon decided last month to keep about 3,000 Alaska-based soldiers of the 172nd Stryker Brigade Combat Team in Iraq, extending their tours and returning more than 300 who had already gone back home. The move was part of an effort to boost security in Baghdad, where an escalation of violence has raised concerns even among top U.S. generals that the sectarian conflict could deteriorate into civil war.

U.S. commanders have said the soldiers whose tours were extended were well-suited to the Baghdad mission, in part due to their experience in Mosul. The security clampdown in Iraq's capital has reduced violence, commanders have said.


The extended deployment poses a hardship for both troops who have been sent to one of the most dangerous areas of Iraq, and their families in Alaska.

The delay has also put families and the U.S. Army on what one defense official called a "death watch" for soldiers who otherwise would have been on their way home if not already there.

Some family members gave Rumsfeld credit for spending an hour with them in Fairbanks, Alaska. But others said they were not satisfied.

"I think it was a show," said Jennifer Davis, the wife of one soldier in Iraq. She declined to give her husband's name.

Rumsfeld's visit to Fairbanks lured curious onlookers, one of whom yelled to the defense secretary to "get us out of Iraq."

 

USA: Kriegsgegner protestieren gegen Bush (orf)

zurückIn Kennebunkport im US-Bundesstaat Maine haben hunderte Kriegsgegner gegen US-Präsident George W. Bush demonstriert, der dort ein langes Wochenende verbringt. "Amerika, wach' auf!" und "Kriegsverbrecher Bush" stand unter anderem auf den selbstgemalten bunten Schildern und Fahnen, welche die Demonstranten gestern Abend hochhielten.

Die Botschaft an Bush sei folgende, sagte eine der Organisatoren, Jamilla El-Shafei: "Wir wollen unsere Truppen wieder daheim haben, wir wollen, dass die Demokratie wiederhergestellt wird, und Sie sollen aufhören, auf unseren Bürgerrechten herumzutrampeln." Sie verstehe nicht, wie Bush Urlaub machen könne, "während Menschen sterben".

Polizeichef Joseph Bruni sagte, dass sich etwa sechshundert Menschen an dem Protestmarsch nach Walker's Point beteiligt hätten, wo die Familie Bush ein Haus besitzt. Bush war am Donnerstag in Kennebunkport angekommen und wollte dort bis heute bleiben. Gestern ging er mit seiner Familie zur Hochzeit von Verwandten; außerdem wollte er Angeln und Radfahren.
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50 toten Zivilisten...


BAGHDAD, Iraq (CNN) -- On a day in which at least 50 people were killed, Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki said he did not foresee a civil war in Iraq and that violence in his country was abating.

"In Iraq, we'll never be in civil war," al-Maliki told CNN's "Late Edition" on Sunday.

Attacks on American troops around the Iraqi capital Sunday left six soldiers dead, the U.S. command in Baghdad reported.

Other violence nationwide left more than 130 wounded, local authorities said.

One U.S. soldier was killed by gunfire in eastern Baghdad about 2 p.m. Sunday (6 a.m. ET), while a second was killed by a roadside bomb on the city's west side about half an hour later, according to a U.S. military statement.

The other four soldiers died about 3 p.m., when a roadside bomb struck their vehicle north of Baghdad, the military reported.

U.S. commanders have poured thousands of additional troops into Baghdad in recent weeks in hopes of rolling back sectarian killings that have left thousands of Iraqis dead.

The latest combat deaths bring the number of U.S. troops killed in Iraq to 2,621. Seven American civilian contractors of the military also have died in the conflict.

In other Baghdad violence, five people were killed and 10 were wounded by a bomb planted in a minibus, police said.

And a car bomb explosion outside Al-Sabah, Iraq's state-owned daily newspaper, killed two and wounded 20, an Iraqi emergency official said.

Despite Health Ministry figures that put the number of Iraqi civilians killed in July at about 3,400 -- more than double the 1,600 killed in January -- the prime minister said violence was decreasing in his country.

Al-Maliki did not dispute figures published in "The Economist" magazine that put unemployment at as high as 40 percent, with double-digit inflation and as much as 20 percent of the population in poverty.

"But this is a new Iraq, and inherited from the previous regime who left unemployment and destruction," said al-Maliki, who won power in December's elections.

Asked when coalition troops might leave, the Iraqi leader was equivocal.

"It could be a year or less, or a few months," he said. "This has to do with the -- with our success of the democratic -- or the political process in Iraq, and to have the security agencies to protect this process."

Sen. Carl Levin, a Michigan Democrat, disagreed with al-Maliki's assessment of the state of affairs in Iraq, saying the country was "on the verge of civil war right now," if not already involved in one.

Levin, the ranking Democrat on the Senate Armed Services Committee, called for the United States to set a date to begin withdrawing its forces.

"We cannot save the Iraqis from themselves," he told CNN. "They're the ones that have got to decide -- do they want a civil war, or do they want a nation?"

Levin said President Bush should "prod" the Iraqis to take responsibility for their own security.

"The only chance they have of defeating the insurgents is if they come together politically," he said.

But Republican Sen. Richard Lugar of Indiana said withdrawal of coalition forces could make an already bad situation worse.

"The idea, somehow, that civil war means that we leave is a non-starter, because Iraq's physical integrity is important," said Lugar, the chairman of the Foreign Relations Committee.

"By that I mean, if Iraq deteriorates and Sunnis, Shiites and Kurds begin picking up partners in other countries, then we have a conflagration that dwarfs anything which is occurring presently in the deteriorating problems of Iraq."

On Saturday, al-Maliki hosted a conference to bring about national reconciliation.

At least 400 people attended, including tribal leaders, politicians and government officials, an Iraqi Islamic party official said.

At the conference, al-Maliki told leaders there was no difference among Arabs, Kurds, Christians, Sunnis and Shiites because "we are all Iraqis," an official in the prime minister's office said.

But on Sunday night, gunmen killed 12 and wounded 25 in a market in the town of Khalis, 12 miles (20 km) north of Baquba, according to police.

On Sunday morning in the same town, a bombing in a market left six people dead and 15 wounded, police said.

In Baquba, two separate shooting incidents Sunday afternoon left six dead and 15 wounded, officials said.

In other attacks reported by security and hospital officials, two car bombings in the northern city of Kirkuk killed 10 and wounded 32, and a blast in the southern city of Basra killed five and injured 15.

 

Montag, 28. August 2006 (bild)

13 Tote bei Selbstmordanschlag vor Innenministerium

Bei einem Selbstmordanschlag auf das irakische Innenministerium in Bagdad sind 13 Menschen getötet und 45 verletzt worden. Der Attentäter sprengte seinen Wagen vor dem ersten Kontrollposten vor dem Ministeriumseingang in die Luft, wie Sicherheitskräfte mitteilten. Im Ministerium fand zu dem Zeitpunkt ein Treffen der Polizeichefs aller 18 Provinzen statt. Wachposten vor dem Ministerium feuerten den Angaben zufolge anschließend um sich, um die Menschenmenge zu zerstreuen und Autos daran zu hindern, sich dem Schauplatz des Anschlags zu nähern.
 

mit der schiitischen "Sadre-Miliz"...


DIWANIYA, Iraq (Reuters) - Fierce street fighting between Iraqi troops and militiamen loyal to a populist Shi'ite cleric killed 25 soldiers on Monday, military and hospital sources said.

U.S. aircraft circled over Diwaniya, south of Baghdad, as clashes in which nine civilians were also reported killed continued between troops and Mehdi Army fighters who support the nominally pro-government cleric Moqtada al-Sadr, witnesses said.

In Baghdad, a suicide car bomber killed 13 policemen and wounded 62 other people outside the Interior Ministry in one of the deadliest attacks in the capital since U.S. and Iraqi troops launched a major security clampdown three weeks ago.


Six American soldiers were among more than 60 people killed on Sunday that challenged assertions by Iraqi and U.S. officials that their forces were gaining the upper hand.

The fighting in Diwaniya, a provincial capital 180 km (115 miles) south of Baghdad, began on Sunday evening. It was one of the bloodiest battles yet between U.S.-trained government troops and Shi'ite militiamen.

Ahmed al-Haji, who is in charge of security at the town's main hospital, said the bodies of 25 soldiers and nine civilians, including a 12-year-old girl, were brought in.

Shi'ite Islamist Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki, backed by U.S. and British forces, has vowed to disband militias to help avert civil war. But, 100 days after his unity coalition was sworn in, they remain powerful players in power struggles among rival Shi'ite factions dominant across southern Iraq.

Sadr's followers hold a number of cabinet posts but senior government officials say that could change in a forthcoming reshuffle because Maliki is frustrated by divided loyalties.  
 

B BAGDAD. In Diwanija südlich von Bagdad lieferten sich irakische Soldaten heftige Gefechte mit schiitischen Milizen des radikalen Predigers Moktada al-Sadr. Dabei kamen Krankenhaus- und Armeeangaben zufolge 25 Soldaten ums Leben, fünf weitere wurden noch vermisst. Ein Krankenhausmitarbeiter berichtete zudem von neun toten Zivilisten. Den Angaben zufolge waren die Gefechte bereits am Sonntagabend ausgebrochen.
In Bagdad sprengte sich unterdessen ein Selbstmordattentäter in die Luft und riss 16 Menschen mit in den Tod. Wie aus Polizeikreisen verlautete, wurden bei dem Anschlag 35 Personen verwundet. Den Angaben zufolge brachte der Attentäter sein Auto in der Nähe des Innenministeriums zur Detonation.

Bereits am Sonntag waren fünf US-Soldaten bei Detonationen mehrerer Sprengsätze in und um Bagdad getötet worden. Insgesamt hatten am Sonntag im Irak rund 60 Menschen ihr Leben gelassen. Tausende Soldaten der USA und des Irak versuchen derzeit in Bagdad mit der gemeinsamen Operation ?Together Forward?, Aufständische zu bekämpfen und die Gewalt zwischen den Anhängern verschiedener moslemischer Glaubensrichtungen einzudämmen.

In dem Golfstaat verüben Aufständische immer wieder Anschläge auf die Zivilbevölkerung sowie die einheimischen und ausländischen Sicherheitskräfte. Sie versuchen damit, die vom Westen gestützte Regierung zu schwächen.Handelsblatt heute  

 

"...versuchen... die gewalt zwischen den anhängern verschiedener glaubensrichtungen einzudämmen."

1. haben die genug damit zu tun, sich selbst zu schützen.

2. ist das o.g. doch das beste , was denen passieren kann, weil die invasionstruppen dadurch entlastet werden.

 

Irak: Hoher El-Kaida-Anführer nach US-Angaben gefasst

Ein hoher Anführer des Terrornetzwerks El Kaida ist nach Angaben der US-Armee nahe der nordirakischen Stadt Kirkuk festgenommen worden. Wie ein Sprecher der US-Streitkräfte gestern mitteilte, sei der Mann mutmaßlich an einem Anschlag gegen den Sitz der Partei des irakischen Präsidenten Dschalal Talabani beteiligt gewesen.

Fünf Tote bei Festnahme
Der kurdische Sprengstoffspezialist werde verdächtigt, für einige der schlimmsten Attentate im Irak verantwortlich gewesen zu sein, sagte US-General William Caldwell. Bei der Festnahme des Mannes am 19. August starben demnach "fünf Terroristen, fünf weitere wurden inhaftiert".

Bei dem Anschlag auf das Büro der Patriotischen Union Kurdistans (PUK) in Mossul waren am 15. August acht Menschen getötet und 51 verletzt worden. Bei insgesamt 140 Militäraktionen gegen das Netzwerk von El Kaida wurden nach Angaben der US-Armee im August 17 Menschen getötet und 300 Verdächtige gefasst.
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WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Vice President Dick Cheney on Monday seized on Democratic calls to pull troops out of Iraq to draw an election-year link between early withdrawal and the possibility of terrorist attacks in the United States.

As Cheney and President George W. Bush try to help Republicans keep control of the U.S. Congress on November 7, polls show public support for the war ebbing away. But Bush gets better marks for his handling of terrorism and Cheney tied the two together.

"Some in our own country claim retreat from Iraq would satisfy the appetite of the terrorists and get them to leave us alone," Cheney told a Veterans of Foreign Wars convention in Reno, Nevada. "A precipitous withdrawal from Iraq would be ... a ruinous blow to the future security of the United States."


Cheney did not use the word "Democrats," choosing instead the anonymous "some," but he rejected the argument many have made that by invading Iraq in March 2003, the United States simply "stirred up a hornets' nest."

"They overlook a fundamental fact. We were not in Iraq on September 11, 2001, but the terrorists hit us anyway," he said, in a reference to the hijacked plane attacks that killed almost 3,000 people.

When Bush answered a question about Iraq last week by raising September 11, a reporter asked him "What did Iraq have to do with that?" The president replied, "Nothing," and added, "Nobody has ever suggested in this administration that Saddam Hussein ordered the attack."

But prior to the U.S.-led invasion, Cheney suggested that one of the September 11 hijackers met in Prague before the attacks with an Iraqi intelligence agent. The bipartisan September 11 Commission found no evidence such a meeting took place.

September 11 and its aftermath, as well as the build-up and early successes in the Iraq war, were winning issues for Republicans in 2002 and 2004. With the unpopular war now helping to drag Bush's poll numbers down to the lowest of his presidency, the White House has sought to cast it as part of the broader struggle against terror.  
 

Cheney said terrorists wanted to arm themselves with chemical, biological and even nuclear weapons, "to destroy Israel, to intimidate all Western countries and to cause mass death in the United States."

He suggested critics were naive and did not understand the magnitude of the threats.

"Some might look at these ambitions and wave them off as extreme and mad," he said. "Well, these ambitions are extreme and they are mad. They are also real and we must not wave them off, we must take them seriously."

Cheney said he welcomed the vigorous debate over Iraq but added: "There is a difference between healthy debate and self-defeating pessimism. "We have only two options on Iraq - victory or defeat - and this nation will not pursue a policy of retreat."

 

BAGHDAD, Iraq (CNN) -- Iraq's Defense Ministry sent reinforcements to the southern city of Diwaniya after weekend clashes between government troops and followers of a radical Shiite cleric left more than 60 dead, Iraqi and U.S. military officials said.

The deployment came as a U.S. commander said members of at least two brigades of Iraqi forces have refused orders to fight outside of their operating areas.

The Diwaniya fighting left 23 Iraqi soldiers and 38 militiamen dead, and 40 wounded, amid conflicting reports of how the clashes began.

The Defense Ministry said the fighting began late Sunday after a large number of gunmen attacked several police stations in the city, taking over many of them. Iraqi soldiers later clashed with those gunmen, the ministry said.

While clashes were going on in parts of the city, the ministry said, the Iraqi army had generally taken control of the situation, including recapturing the police stations that had fallen under control of the gunmen.

An Iraqi army official said the clashes erupted after Iraqi soldiers began searching various parts of Diwaniya, a stronghold of the Mehdi Army militia, which is loyal to Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr.

But Deputy Prime Minister Barham Salih told CNN that al-Sadr's associates have said "these groups were operating outside his control."

He called the fighting in Diwaniya "important and significant," since it involved troops from a Shiite-dominated government taking on a Shiite militia.

"While one regrets the loss of life in the conflict today, one should also recognize this is a sign of leadership and seriousness by the government to take on those who violate the law," he said.

Diwaniya is more than 100 miles south of Baghdad.

Brig. Gen. Dana Pittard, the commander of the U.S.-led Iraqi Assistance Group, told reporters at the Pentagon that Iraqi troops and police held their ground in "tough fighting" against the Mehdi Army.

"The 8th Iraqi Army ... working closely with the Iraqi police, repelled the attacks of the insurgents," Pittard said.

Car bomb kills 11
Sunday's clashes in southern Iraq came as U.S. and Iraqi troops worked to roll back a wave of sectarian violence between Shiites and Sunnis and insurgent attacks in Baghdad that have left thousands of Iraqis dead in recent months.

Eight American troops were killed over the weekend, all but one of them in attacks in and around Baghdad on Sunday, the U.S. command in Baghdad reported.

The latest American deaths bring the number of U.S. troops killed in Iraq to 2,622. Seven American civilian contractors of the military also have died in the conflict.

At least 11 people were killed and 63 were wounded when a suicide car bomber detonated his explosives at an Iraqi police checkpoint near the Interior Ministry Monday morning, Baghdad emergency police said.

Maj. Gen. William Caldwell, a U.S. military spokesman, said the joint effort has reduced the number of killings, abductions and attacks reported so far in August. The number of car bombs dropped from 16 two weeks ago to eight last week, and he said Baghdad's murder rate is down by nearly half since July.

"However, as we know, the insurgents and terrorists are punching back," Caldwell said.

Thousands of additional American troops were sent to Baghdad to bolster security there. But they have yet to move into Sadr City, the Shiite district that is the base of al-Sadr's power.

Caldwell said the decision about whether to go into Sadr City would lie with Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki, whose ruling coalition includes lawmakers from al-Sadr's political party.

"His intent is for Iraqi security forces to operate throughout the entire city of Baghdad," Caldwell said.

Al-Sadr is the son of a prominent Shiite ayatollah killed during the rule of ousted Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein. He led two uprisings against U.S. troops in 2004.

Britain's defense secretary, meanwhile, said that security had improved in southern Iraq, Reuters reported. His Iraqi counterpart predicted that formal control of another province in the region, Dhi Qar province, would be handed back to Iraq soon. (Full story)

Some Iraqi forces refuse to deploy
About 100 soldiers from a unit in the 10th Iraqi Army, based in southern Iraq, refused to deploy to Baghdad to assist the joint operation there, Pittard said.

Pittard said he also knew of at least one other instance in which Iraqi forces refused to deploy when ordered.

"There was another case of the 2nd Battalion, 3rd Brigade of the 2nd Iraqi Army Division that was up in northern Iraq that was to go and deploy ... to Ramadi," Pittard said. "A number of the members of that unit ended up not deploying."

He did not say when or how many troops were involved in the second incident and could not say if any of the troops would be punished.

An investigation is still under way into the members from the 10th Iraqi Army Division, he said, though it appeared Iraqi commanders would not be deploying the unit anyway.

Pittard acknowledged that the deployment issue still needs to be tackled and the mindset of a national army must be instilled in the troops.

The problem undercuts what the United States is trying to do -- create an Army that will be able to deploy anywhere in the country and be a cohesive fighting force.

"For many of those soldiers, they just thought that they would be operating in their homeland areas," Pittard said.

Asked about statements from Iraqi senior leaders that Iraqi forces are ready to hold their own, he responded that he does not believe U.S. and coalition forces will be leaving soon.

"If your question is, should coalition forces leave in the next couple months, my answer is I think that's premature, based on what we see on the ground," Pittard said.

The Iranian ambassador in Baghdad, meanwhile, said Monday that Iran wants an active role in the rebuilding of Iraq, including the development of its military and intelligence services.

Ambassador Hassan Kazemi Qomi said Tehran is interested in having a stable Iraq on its western border, led by an independent government with popular support.

"When we say we are ready to help in all fields, it is natural that that includes the field of security," Qomi told CNN.

Lt. Gen. Robert Fry, the commander of British troops in southern Iraq, told reporters last week that Britain "can see a very clear Iranian role in stoking up violence inside Iraq." Iran has denied supporting insurgents. (Full story)

 

Many Iraqi families are swapping homes with friends from the other religious sect to avoid falling victim to Baghdad?s rising sectarian violence, which has claimed the lives more than 10,000 Iraqis in the last four months alone.

According to an editorial on The Mercury News, many Shia families living in Sunni-dominated neighborhoods are now trading their houses with Sunnis in mainly Shia neighborhoods.

Iraqi officials say more than 1,500 families escaped their homes in the religiously mixed city of Nasser Wa Salaam, some 40 km west of Baghdad. Many others have moved to neighborhoods where their sect predominates, either abandoning their old homes or swapping them with people from the other sect of their religion.  

"Friends from different sects say, 'Let's trade houses, then we'll move back when things settle down,"' said Brig.-Gen. Abdullah Abdul Kareem Abdul Sattar, commander of Iraqi forces in Nasser Wa Salaam, where more than 80,000 Iraqis live.

Officials say more than 800 new families have moved into Nasser Wa Salaam, most of whom are thought to be Sunni Arabs who feel safer in the Sunni-dominated western half of Iraq. Most of those who left are thought to be Shia.

Many families also escaped the city to avoid the military checkpoints that delay travel to Baghdad. Iraqi soldiers say they try to persuade residents to stay, but they believe that influential tribal and religious leaders encourage families to move. "All day long you'll see people moving back and forth to where they think it's safer, but they're taking those grudges with them," Abdullah said. "The best we can do is stop them at checkpoints, and assure them of their safety and security."

Iraqi soldiers say they try to record where people are moving to and from. They also survey changing neighborhoods and try to locate deserted homes. But, despite their efforts, the majority of the soldiers working in the city are Shia, and the exodus in Nasser Wa Salaam has taken place under their watch.

Iraqi commanders now say that there?s nothing they can do to stop the exodus. "We need a political solution. I can't do anything because it's not my job," said Brig.-Gen. Tarek, commander of the 1st Iraqi army division who didn?t provide his surname for fear of reprisal. "I could put a squad in every house . . . but that's outside of my capabilities."

The house-swapping phenomenon isn?t isolated to Nasser Wa Salaam.


In the nearby Abu Ghraib district, Iraqi officials say many Shia families left their homes in the mostly Sunni neighborhood on the western outskirts of Baghdad. And in Fallujah, a tent city was built in a parking lot to shelter hundreds of mostly Sunni Arab families who escaped sectarian killings and abductions in the capital.

Some U.S. and Iraqi officials blame rumour-mongering for magnifying the risk facing Iraqis in areas where they are the minority. For example, some residents say they?ve seen fliers warning them to leave their homes or be killed. "Nobody can produce one of these fliers. Rumours run rampant. By the time a rumour gets to the other side of the city, it's rampant," said Lt.-Col. Doug Anderson, head of team of U.S. advisers that trains the Iraqi soldiers.

However, one man, who identified himself as Abu Hussein, 49, said he left Baghdad?s mainly Sunni Hawsa district for the Shia-dominated Shula neighborhood, swapping homes with a woman who had just received a death threat. Abu Hussein also says that he?d received death threats and that a car bomb had exploded in his street days before he moved.  

Meanwhile, some officials say the exodus provide a way for politicians to garner support by delivering services to newly relocated families. For example, supporters of Shia cleric Muqtada al-Sadr greet new families, help them move their children to new schools, secure their streets, transfer their food ration card to the new community and even provide gasoline when there is a nationwide shortage.

Isam Abu Ali, 35, a representative in Sadr's Shula office, said Sadr supporters have provided food, blankets, gas, money and even furniture to more than 2,200 families who moved to Shula alone.

There are no hard statistics on how many people have swapped homes in Iraq because many families don?t inform the police about their move. Officials at the Ministry of Immigrants and Displacement, which is led by former Prime Minister Iyad Allawi's independent slate, say they condemn house swapping and don?t record it.

In general, more than 26,858 families, or about 160,000 people, have been displaced by sectarian violence that has surged in war-torn Iraq since the Feb. 22 bombing of a major Shia shrine in the holy city of Samarra, according to Migration Minister Abdul-Samad Rahman.

Although some Iraqi officials say the exodus has slowed, they express grave concern about the tense relations between Sunnis and Shias.  

"For people my age, we never had this. We never knew what sect we were. We interacted with each other, intermarried. This is something new and it's a bit of a shocking situation," says Brig.-Gen. Abdullah, whose own son was recently tortured and killed.

 

BAGHDAD, Iraq (CNN) -- Iraqi police found 11 bodies near a school in southwestern Baghdad's al-Turah neighborhood on Tuesday morning, Iraq's Interior Ministry said.

The men were blindfolded, had their hands tied behind their backs and showed signs of torture.

According to the ministry, Iraqi police were working to identify the bodies.

Meanwhile, a U.S. soldier was killed Monday in Anbar province, west of Baghdad, a military statement said.

According to the military, the soldier was assigned to the Army's Regimental Combat Team 7 and "died from wounds sustained due to enemy action."

Since the start of the war, there have been 2,623 U.S. military fatalities in Iraq. Seven American civilian contractors of the military also have died in the conflict.

 

(ap) Angesichts der anhaltenden Gewalt im Irak haben mehrere hundert einflussreiche Stammesführer einen «Ehrenpakt» geschlossen, um Anschläge und Angriffe einzudämmen. In dem am Samstag unterzeichneten Dokument geloben sie, sich für «die Einheit unseres Landes» einzusetzen. Ministerpräsident al-Maliki erklärte, der Einfluss der Stämme könne eine Schlüsselrolle im Kampf gegen Aufständische spielen. Praktisch täglich kommt es im Irak zu Gewaltakten, die seit dem Amtsantritt von Al-Malikis Regierung im Mai rund 10'000 Iraker das Leben gekostet haben.
Hohes Ansehen vor allem auf dem Land

Vor allem bei der ländlichen Bevölkerung, wo Clan-Beziehungen eine grosse Rolle spielen, geniessen die Stammesführer ein hohes Ansehen. Ihr Pakt soll Malikis Plan zu einer nationalen Versöhnung unterstützen. Er sieht unter anderem eine Entwaffnung der vor allem von schiitischen Kämpfern gestellten Milizen und eine Amnestie für die mehrheitlich sunnitischen Aufständischen vor, sofern sie keine Terroranschläge verübt haben.

Ausserdem sollen Familien finanziell entschädigt werden, deren Mitglieder von amerikanischen oder irakischen Soldaten getötet wurden.